A Press Democrat Blog

Lowell Cohn's pertinent and impertinent take on sports

Here is a link to my Friday column about the NFL’s desire to add more playoff teams. The full text runs below: The brain trust of the National Football League will consider a proposal to further screw up their product. At next week’s league meetings, the NFL competition committee will suggest adding two teams to the postseason lineup beginning in 2015. If you’re keeping count — and you may need a calculator for this — that would raise the number… Read More »

Here is a link to my Wednesday column about the NFL and awful language and what the NFL wants to do about it. The full column runs below: This is about the N-word and the National Football League. The N-word is so bad I can’t even write the actual word. I imply it. I suggest it with that little dash and the word “word.” But you know what the word is. It is a curse word, something I can’t write… Read More »

Here is the opening to my Sunday column about the settlement the NFL made with former players about concussions and brain trauma: Come one. Come all. It’s time to dump on the NFL. One local writer likened the league to the totalitarian government of North Korea, although last anyone heard, the NFL has no nukes, no army, no wacko dictator. But OK. Dump away. It’s all about concussions and the class action lawsuit of former players, and how the players… Read More »

Here is the opening to my Thursday column: A controversy about face masks is raging through the National Football League. You may not know about it, but the controversy rages, and it’s significant. Several defensive players have worn newly-designed, highly-protective face masks to practice. They want to wear them in games. The league told them no. The Colts’ Robert Mathis, a premier pass rusher, a five-time Pro Bowler, was wearing a model that looks like a grill with crisscrossed bars… Read More »

Greg Aiello, who runs media relations for the NFL and is a good guy, sent me this information about a team allegedly asking a draft prospect about his sexual orientation at the Combine. I share it with you: Lowell: We are in the process of reviewing the matter. Here is the statement we issued after learning of the report: Like all employers, our teams are expected to follow applicable federal, state and local employment laws. It is league policy to… Read More »

Here is the opening to my Sunday column: There is something fundamentally abhorrent about the NFL Scouting Combine, recently concluded. Coaches and team executives put prospects through all kinds of drills and ask all kinds of questions. They treat them like slaves. The NFL slaves can’t decide which teams they will go to. They have no freedom of choice. True, differences exist between real slaves and NFL slaves. NFL slaves make a free choice to enter the draft in the… Read More »

Not sure what to make of Tagliabue overturning Goodell. Obviously, Goodell acted hastily with his punishments. Obviously, he had the wisdom to involve Tagliablue who obviously is an independent guy. New Orleans still did very bad things and the coaching staff was horrible and I don’t think the players were that wonderful, either. But I have no problem with the players’ sentences being overturned. What about you?

It is such a sad story, the Chiefs’ Jovan Belcher murdering his girlfriend, then committing suicide in front of Chiefs’ coaches. It is unimaginable. I still think the Chiefs and Panthers should play on Sunday. Please don’t think I am insensitive. Both teams should suit up and play. You cancel games, I believe, only for a national tragedy or something of that magnitude — you could define that kind of tragedy any way you like. What would you do if… Read More »

I want to preface this by saying Jim Kozimor is my friend and more important he is one hell of a host for Chron Live. I love working with him. Tonight he got worked up because I called the scab refs clowns. He said that was unacceptable on the show. So I called them clowns a bunch more times, because they are and because I am by nature contrary. I even called Roger Goodell a clown for letting these scab… Read More »

The replacement officials are a disgrace and they are dangerous. I blame them for that scary hit on Heyward-Bey. The game already was out of control because no one respects these officials. Heyward-Bey got hit helmet to helmet — the officials’ fault. Bill Belichick grabbed a ref, certainly not allowed, but it’s because he does not respect them. Roger Goodell keeps pretending the refs are doing a good job. Goodell says he cares about the safety of players. Did he… Read More »